The clocks went back an hour this morning, and the Algarve steps quietly into its off-season. The coast is emptying, the light is turning and the pace of things is slowing to what the region looks like when it is left to itself. The week brings the Algarve Classic Festival to the Portimão circuit from Friday, the largest historic motor racing weekend in the Iberian Peninsula, and closes on Sunday with All Saints' Day, the Dia de Todos os Santos, a national public holiday.

This week in the west

Algarve Classic Festival returns to Portimão from Friday 30 October

The 2026 Algarve Classic Festival opens at the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve on Friday 30 October and runs through Sunday 1 November. More than 300 historic cars and 500 drivers from over 20 countries take part across a programme that runs from pre-war grand prix machinery through 1970s endurance prototypes, historic touring cars and turbocharged-era Formula One. Entry is open to the public with paddock access throughout the weekend alongside classic car parades and exhibitions. Children aged 3 to 16 are admitted free. The circuit is 12 kilometres north of Portimão city centre on the N534. For anyone still in the western Algarve this week, this is the anchor event of the autumn calendar and the paddock in full swing is worth a morning on its own.

Menzies wins the ground handling licence for Faro airport

Portugal's civil aviation authority, ANAC, awarded the ground handling licences for Faro, Lisbon and Porto airports to SPdH, the former Groundforce Portugal now operating under Menzies Aviation, on Friday 23 October. The award ends a procurement process that has run through most of 2026. The Spanish-led Clece and South consortium, which had the highest-ranked initial bid, was excluded by ANAC in July after the regulator found it had not demonstrated that it could mobilise the required staff and resources. SPdH, as the second-ranked bidder, was then asked to submit its qualification documents, which ANAC has now accepted. SPdH's current licences had been extended by the government to cover the transition period. For airlines and passengers using Faro, the decision settles ground service provision under a familiar operator through the coming seasons.

What's on this week

Algarve Classic Festival, Autódromo Internacional do Algarve, Portimão, Friday 30 October to Sunday 1 November

The Classic Festival runs three full days at the Portimão circuit. Friday is practice and qualifying, with Saturday and Sunday the main race days across all categories. Paddock access is open throughout, giving visitors the chance to see the cars at close quarters between sessions. Children aged 3 to 16 are admitted free. Note that Sunday 1 November is the Dia de Todos os Santos national holiday; smaller cafes and shops along the road may have reduced hours, so plan ahead if you are making a full day of it. The circuit is 12 kilometres north of Portimão, signposted from the EN125 via the N534.

Zoomarine Halloween programme, Guia, continuing through this week

Zoomarine's Halloween special programming, which launched on 20 October with themed shows, decorations and activities, continues through the final days of October. Check the park's own channels to confirm the last day before making a trip. Zoomarine is at Guia, near Albufeira, roughly midway between Portimão and Faro, and makes a practical day trip from the western Algarve for families.

Coming up

Pedra Dura: Festival de Dança do Algarve, Lagos, Wednesday 4 to Saturday 14 November

The 5th edition of Pedra Dura, the Algarve's dance festival, opens in Lagos on Wednesday 4 November and runs to Saturday 14 November, with 24 shows across dance, music and cinema. The festival opens at the Armazém Regimental in Lagos and spreads across venues in the city. Artists confirmed for this edition include Alessandro Sciarroni, Vera Mantero and Clara Andermatt, a programme at international contemporary dance level. Ticket details are available on the festival's channels.

Walk and Art Fest, Barão de São João, Lagos, Friday 6 to Sunday 8 November

The Walk and Art Fest returns to the village of Barão de São João, in the Lagos municipality, from Friday 6 to Sunday 8 November. Organised by Lagos City Council and the Associação Almargem as part of the Algarve Walking Season, the programme combines guided walks of varying difficulty with creative workshops, family activities, bike rides and wellbeing sessions. Entry is free, with registration required at walkartfest.pt. Barão de São João is a small village in the wooded interior of the Lagos municipality, about 10 kilometres north of Lagos.

Rota das Algas, Praia do Castelejo and memmo Baleeira, Sagres, Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 November

The Rota das Algas returns to Sagres for its third year in partnership with the memmo Baleeira hotel. Led by founder Joana Duarte, the programme centres on early morning seaweed foraging at Praia do Castelejo, a wild beach on the west coast. Saturday's full programme, priced at 100 euros, includes the foraging session at 7:30am, a seaweed fermentation workshop and a themed lunch. Sunday offers a standalone foraging session focused on marine biodiversity at 7:30am, priced at 45 euros. Reservations by WhatsApp on +351 939 155 930. Praia do Castelejo is north of Sagres, reached via the road through the village.

MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix, Portimão, Friday 20 to Sunday 22 November

The MotoGP Portuguese Grand Prix returns to the Autódromo Internacional do Algarve from Friday 20 to Sunday 22 November, after being pushed back from its originally scheduled mid-November dates following a rescheduled Qatar round. The weekend covers MotoGP, Moto2 and Moto3, with Friday practice, Saturday qualifying and sprint, and Sunday's main races. The circuit is 12 kilometres north of Portimão.

Concierge corner

This week, the clocks go back and you get the Algarve to yourself

Last night the clocks went back an hour, here just as at home, and the Algarve changed season while you slept. There is no ceremony to it. The summer simply switches itself off, the last of the big crowds files back through Faro airport, and the coast lets out a long breath it has been holding since June.

What you notice first is the light. It comes in lower and softer now, gold instead of glare, and it lies along the cliffs in the late afternoon in a way the hard white summer sun never allowed. The sun is down by early evening and going earlier by the week, so the days feel shorter and, oddly, kinder. You stop chasing shade and start following the warmth around the terrace.

Then you notice the quiet. The towns are handed back to the people who live in them. You can park in Lagos again. You can walk into a restaurant on a Friday and be given a table rather than a time to come back. The café on the square fills with Portuguese voices instead of six languages, the market traders have a minute to talk, and the whole place stops performing and goes back to simply being itself.

This is the season for the slow things. A lunch that starts at one and is still going at four, because nobody needs the table after you. A walk on a beach that in August held ten thousand towels and now holds a dog, a fisherman and you. The orange trees in the valleys heavy and just starting to turn. And for the properly brave, a sea that is still warmer than the air and will stay swimmable, if you are quick about it, well into November.

A word of honest warning, because it is my job to give you one. The evenings have a bite to them now, and these lovely stone houses hold the cool as cleverly as they held the shade in August. A still day can turn into a sharp night. So find the heating before you need it, ask about a fire if the villa has one, and pack a proper layer for sitting out after dark, when the stars over the Atlantic are worth staying out for.

Here is what I tell the guests in the villas I look after. Everyone comes for the summer, and the summer is wonderful, but the people who come now have found the secret. The Algarve in its quiet season, warm by day, cosy by night, unhurried and entirely yours, is the one most visitors never meet. Come once in the soft months and you will spend the bright ones plotting your way back.

And if you see a man taking the long way round the market with no apparent purpose, simply enjoying having the place to himself, do say hello. It is probably me.

Mark

The week's weather

A mild and largely settled week follows the clock change. Temperatures around 20 to 21 degrees are expected through to Sunday, with sunshine and some cloud and no rain forecast across the seven days. The evenings will carry a chill now that the days are shorter, so a layer for sitting out after dark is sensible, but daytime conditions remain comfortable for the coast and the hills.

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